The Forging of The Unspeakable
by AaronEvans
Summary: Prequel to An American Muggle in Hogwart's Court. Elanus Green begins his sixth year, and the path to becoming an Unspeakable.
1. Hammers and Horseshoes

**Chapter 1: Hammers and Horseshoes**

**_Author's Note: _**_It's good to be writing these again. Anyway, a lot of people who read my first fic expressed they wanted to learn a little more about Elanus Green. I thought I'd detail a little about a particular year at Hogwarts during his day._

Elanus Green manned the bellows on his Uncle Gene's small forge. They were making horseshoes this evening. He pulled down the lever and then the chain in a slow rhythmic pattern. It was necessary to keep the forge fires burning hot, the day before he had faltered a bit and the blade for the neighbor's plow was nearly ruined. Thankfully Uncle Gene was truly a master and mended the blade just as perfectly as it had been before it broke. Elanus loved coming to America every year to work, though he truly wished he was the one doing the hammering on the metal. Gene dipped the glowing 'U' shaped object into a bucket of water, producing a vast amount of steam. Elanus wiped the sweat from his brow and smiled. Gene was a bit shorter then average and of no real striking looks, though he appeared younger then he really was. The thing that set Gene apart from most people was his strength. He had been a master machinist and metallurgist for many years, and still worked in a factory produced things made of steel. In his spare time he mended equipment for the farmer and ranchers that lived nearby. Elanus could remember a time when his uncle had been out on a ranch looking a tractor over. An angry bull saw Gene and Elanus as intruders. When the bull snorted and charged the two, Gene simply turned around and hit the bull between the eyes with his bare fist and continued working on the tractor. The bull fell over dead, it's skull was cracked at the point of impact. He could also remember the rancher being very displeased, but wisely not wishing to anger Gene any further.

"It's done, I think we're done for the day," Gene said, "Unless you want to try your hand at something?"

Elanus eagerly nodded and Gene smiled and manned the bellows, his thick arms straining as he pulled the levers and chains. Elanus liked it here in America, especially in Texas where his uncle lived. He was learning all sorts of things they'd never teach at home. He selected a rod of steel and carefully cut a few inches from it. Elanus was a student in England, at a very special school. He would be starting his sixth year as a student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was a bit frightened at the prospect of going back, he always found school dull. They never let anyone find practical ways of using magic and rarely let students tinker around with magical artifacts and devices. Carefully, Elanus took a pair of tongs and gripped the piece of rod in them, and shoved it carefully in the burning embers of the fire.

"Don't leave it in too long," Gene said, pumping the bellows.

"I won't, just until it's red right?" Elanus asked.

"Perhaps a bit longer," Gene said. "Wait until the tip begins turning white."

Elanus stared at the glowing rod a few seconds and brought it out of the fire. He took a large hammer and began pounding a rough shape from it. A few more sessions in the fire and many poundings later the lump began to resemble a knife of some sort.

"Make a fine utility or skinning knife," Gene said.

"I think so," Elanus said, pounding the knife out. In a few minutes the knife began to take shape, albeit very rough and crude. "It's not looking very good."

"It's your first time, you're doing well. You can't expect to be a master in one summer," Gene said. 

Finally Elanus heated the blade and stuck it in the bucket of water. He repeated the process twice and then took it to the grinder. He carefully shaped the blade under the grinder and it began to look more like a knife then a beaten piece of metal.

"Don't grind too long, remember," Gene reminded.

Elanus smiled and moved to a polisher to take the bluish oxidation from the blade. This was what he wanted to do at Hogwarts, make things, useful things to wizards. He didn't want any part of enchanting pots and pans or making pens that write by themselves. Always he was looking for new ideas, and the muggles had plenty. They had automobiles and airplanes and gadgets to make house work easier that the wizard world simply didn't have. Elanus was also intrigued by a muggle movie, and books with a character named 'James Bond'. His dream was to make magic devices and be an Unspeakable, the closest thing the wizard world had that compared with the muggle secret services. 

"You know, I could enchant the things here to move on their own," Elanus said as he polished his blade.

"I could get an electric grinder, and electric bellows too you know," Gene said, smiling. "This teaches you to work hard and with what you have. What happens when the power goes out? Or what if you don't get your magic just right? Rely too much on magic, or even electricity, you don't know what to do without it."

Elanus nodded, "I go back to school next week." Elanus waited for the blade to cool and handed it to Gene. 

"Have you packed everything?" Gene asked.

"Yes sir, are you really coming to visit this year? You and Aunt Annie?" asked Elanus.

"I'll try, your aunt isn't well, what with the baby on the way and all. I don't know if she'll be able to come," Gene said.

"Well, I understand if you can't," Elanus said.

"I have family over there too, you know. My father wants me to meet my sisters," Gene said. "I should be able come around Christmas time, maybe I can get a tour of your school."

"I'm sure my mother can arrange it," Elanus said. "She has a few connections."

"Aye, so does my stepmother so I'm told," Gene said.

"Really?" Elanus asked, looking at Gene curiously, "Anyone I might know?" he pried.

"I'm not certain," Gene said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I've heard mention of Hogwarts from her over the telephone, though I think she took me for an ordinary," Gene said, looking around with a rather blank stare on her face.

"Muggle?"  Elanus offered.

"Yes, muggle!" Gene nodded, "I didn't have the heart to tell her my nephew went there too."

"She might have graduated from Hogwarts," Elanus said, "It is interesting though". 

"Well don't go poking into other's business too deep," Gene said. "You might be frightened at what you find."

Gene put his arm around Elanus and examined his work and nodded approvingly. The two went into the house where a thin red headed woman was cooking ham. Gene kissed her on the cheek and grinned at her. The woman smiled faintly and patted him on the cheek.

"Elanus why don't you get cleaned up?" Gene said.

Elanus nodded and darted up the stairs. Soon the sound of water running was heard overhead. 

"He's going back this next week," Gene said.

"I know dear, he's been absolutely miserable about it for days," the woman said.

"He really doesn't like it there does he?" 

"Well, Hogwarts is a bit demanding, poor Arnold barely graduated, and you know he's not a slacker."

"Annie, he tells me they're very restrictive about him making things there," Gene said, "He sounds oppressed, isn't there a school here where they might be a little less restrictive about invention?"

"I could ask," Annie shrugged. "I think the only school is in Salem, and it's very elite. He's going to graduate in a year anyway, I think he'll manage."

The water upstairs shut off and a few minutes later Elanus came downstairs.

"Well you smell better," Gene commented. 

"You're one to talk," Elanus said.

"He's right dear, go get cleaned up," Annie said. 

Gene trudged off and soon water was heard running. Elanus leaned against the kitchen sink and grinned.

"Don't you dare, he hates that," Annie said reaching for faucet.

"Oh yes, I must," Elanus said, holding his aunt back with one arm and turning the knob marked 'hot'. As the water began streaming into the sink a yelp, a thud and a muffled curse were heard from the bathroom.

"Just like your father," Annie said trying not to laugh, "I better go see if the old man is alright."

"I'd be more worried about the bath tub," Elanus chuckled.

Annie grinned back and Elanus and told him to stir the peas that were in a small pot on the stove. Elanus stirred the peas and heard his aunt shriek. He dropped the spoon and ran back to the bathroom. Annie was on all fours coughing violently. 

"Uncle Gene!" 

Gene burst through the bathroom door, half-dressed and looked down at his wife. He knelt down and rubbed her back. Within moments Annie's coughing subsided and she sat up. 

"I'm ok," Annie said. "Something startled me is all."

"What was it?" asked Elanus.

"I don't know, my eyes were playing tricks on me, a shadow moved around is all," Annie answered.

"You scared me there for a moment," Gene said, "Do you want to me to finish cooking?"

"No I can do it," Annie replied, "I'm alright now." Annie stood up and walked back to the kitchen.

"You aren't doing anything magic are you?" asked Gene.

"No, I told you I can't do magic here for some reason, it doesn't work right," Elanus replied. "I've been seeing some strange stuff myself on occasion; I don't know what to make of it."

"Yes, it certainly is odd," Gene said.

"It always seems to be when Aunt Annie is upset, or really happy or something," Elanus said.

"Could she be magical?"

"I don't think so, I know she went to Hogwarts with my dad, but she didn't show any magical talent, so they let her go so to speak," Elanus said. "Besides if I can't use magic here all that well, she probably can't use it at all."

"You're probably right," Gene said. 

Soon Annie called for supper and they went into the kitchen to set the dinner table. Gene turned off the TV and the three ate. After the meal was eaten and the dishes cleaned they relaxed in the living room for an hour or so before retiring for the evening. 

The week passed far too quickly for Elanus' liking and he was grudgingly putting a small suitcase in the back of an old green pickup truck. He stared at the suitcase for a few minutes and then hopped into the passenger side of the vehicle and shut the door. Gene started the old truck up and pulled out onto the road.

"Good think Amarillo has an international airport," Elanus said.

"Well you know what they say about Amarillo," Gene said, "Has more ways to leave town then any other city in the country."

Elanus laughed, "Well the people here sure are proud of it. Say didn't Lindbergh land here in '29?"

"Yep, and I hear they're planning on bringing some supersonic airplane through here too," Gene said.

They arrived at the airport and Gene carried Elanus' suitcase into the terminal building for him. Elanus presented his ticket to a woman behind a counter and was given directions to the waiting area for his flight. The two watched the airplanes take off and land for a few minutes. The boarding announcement was made and Elanus sighed.

"It's been a great summer, Uncle Gene. I can't wait until next summer to come back," Elanus said.

"I'll be waiting for you," Gene said, "See you at Christmas."

"May the Lord guide your steps," Elanus said shaking his uncle's hand, "and may your fires never die."

"Walk in the Light of the Lord," Gene responded, "and may your hammer never falter."

Elanus picked up his suitcase and walked to the boarding terminal and handed the attendant his ticket. Gene stood in silence as he watched the plane leave several minutes later. 


	2. The TransAtlantic Flight Home

**Chapter 2: The Trans-Atlantic Flight Home **

A lone plane soared over the vast expanse of water that was the Atlantic Ocean casting its shadow on the water. Elanus stared out the window at the water. The only redeeming quality of this flight was he got a window seat. He wasn't very fond of the flight back home, usually because it meant going back to school. Another year at Hogwarts was something he rarely looked forward to. He had never been at the top of his class and had only slightly above average marks. His house was even looked at as being below average. Students in the Hufflepuff house were not known for their superior academic skills like Ravenclaws, nor did they often produce notable wizards like Gryffindor house or Slythern. No, Hufflepuffs were the hard workers, the "grunts" so to speak. His house hadn't won the House Cup for as long as anyone could remember, and was routinely at the bottom of the list at the end of the year. There were only two redeeming qualities of being a Hufflepuff. The first was the Quidditch Team, which was decent and the other was no one ever suspected a Hufflepuff of anything. Even the Quidditch Team was in for some problems because of a certain player named James Potter. 

He was looking forward to being able to Apparate this year but only because he could leave for his Uncle's house sooner, and stay a few days longer. Elanus had always been overly focused but this year he would be even more so. If he worked hard, he could be done with his schooling by the first semester of his seventh year and be done with it forever. He'd go to a muggle college if possible and learn about engineering. Uncle Gene had already pulled a few strings and he might be able to go to a school called Texas Tech or one called Texas A&M. He could get a degree in engineering and come back home and make a living as a muggle engineer if he needed to. What he really wanted to do was apply his engineering skills to making magical devices. He was absolutely certain he could mix the two and make some truly astonishing breakthroughs.

The hours passed and finally the plane landed in London at the Gatwick airport. His mother was waiting for him at the terminal. She hugged him and smiled.

"Did you have a good time at your uncle's?" she asked, brushing a few strands of her black hair away from her face.

"Yes mum," he said, "you know I did. I can't wait to go back next year."

"How's your aunt?" she asked as they walked down the hall towards the main entrance of the building.

"She's fine, gets sick a lot but other then that she's fine," Elanus said.

"Poor dear, the doctors can't do anything?" 

"The muggle doctors are helping more then the wizard doctors she saw last year."

Mrs. Green nodded and smiled up at Elanus, "You've sure filled out this summer," she said, feeling his arm.

Elanus blushed slightly, "I worked the bellows every day for three months."

The two made their way to the parking lot towards a small white car. After Elanus stowed his suitcase they drove off. Elanus slept most of the trip, which took nearly an hour. The Green home was a quaint little cottage out in the country that appeared much larger on the inside then it did on the outside. Elanus went to his room and slid his suitcase under his bed and examined his room for a few minutes before returning to the living area.

"Mum! Did my letter come yet?" he asked.

"Yes, about two weeks ago," his mother replied. "We picked up your books already if you want to look them over," she said as she walked into the kitchen.

After locating his books in the living area he sat down to look them over. "Transmutation, Charms, Herbology," he said quietly, "It's all here."

"We picked up the rest of your supplies too, but of you want to go to Diagon Alley tomorrow that's fine too," Mrs. Green said.

"I think I can get anything I'm missing from Hogsmeade if I need to," Elanus said.

"Alright dear, you rest up, you've only got three days counting today before school starts," she said.

Rest he did for his last two days of freedom. Monday morning rolled around and he and his family were off to King's Cross Station so he could board the Hogwarts Express for the final time. The train ride was uneventful and several of his housemates insisted on him sitting with them. He shrugged and sat down, trying to attract the least amount of attention possible. One of his defense mechanisms against boredom was to lapse as quickly as possible into a day dream, and the ride was certainly boring.

"So you're the strong silent type huh?" a pretty brunette girl sitting across from him asked, snapping him out of his daydream.

"What?" he asked.

"She was asking you what you thought of Sirius Black," a tall boy that was sitting next to the brunette said.

"The Gryffindor? Potter's friend?" 

"The same," the brunette replied.

"He's ok I suppose, they're always getting into trouble though," Elanus said.

"You seemed to be a friend of his last year, I thought maybe you'd know a bit more about him."

"Why do you want to know?" Elanus asked. "Want me to introduce you to him?"

The brunette blushed and shook her head, "No, I couldn't…" she started to say. Elanus stood up and walked up the car towards the door and then made his way up the train several cars until he found the one he was looking for. He knocked on one of the cabin doors and entered. Five students were sitting inside. They were quite well known, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Lily Evans. 

"Hey, Elanus how are you?" James asked, extending his hand. Elanus shook James' hand, and then the hands of the rest of them.

"I'm good," Elanus said. "Sirius there's this really hot brunette in the back that's dying to meet you. Interested?"

"Tall?" Sirius asked.

"Not really," Elanus replied.

"Hufflepuff?" Sirius asked.

"Hell if I know. Probably."

Sirius grinned and stood up, "I'll see you guys later."

Elanus led Sirius back to the car and they both sat down in the cabin that Elanus had came from. The brunette's eyes widened a bit, and her mouth hung open a little.

"I'm Sirius Black," he said, shaking the brunette's hand, and then that of the boy next to her.

"Nice to meet you," the boy said.

"A pleasure," the brunette stammered.

"What's your name?" asked Sirius.

"Stacy," she replied.

"Well tell me about yourself," Sirius said.

Elanus stared out the window and lapsed into his day dream. His daydreams were mixed with memories of his previous years at Hogwarts. Most people knew that Remus Lupin was sickly and for a few days a month he had to go home. What few people knew was that when Remus Lupin left for home, his three friends Potter, Black and Pettigrew would routinely sneak out of the school. Last year a Slythern named Severus Snape had been injured about the same time as Remus' monthly sick leave which had prompted Elanus to investigate. Earlier that year Sirius and James had approached him about ideas on making a special map for some school project. It was a map of Hogwarts, and they wanted to know how to enchant it so it would show people. They told him it was a class project and that they knew he was knowledgeable when it came to making magical items. He helped them out a little, and was inspired to make a map of his own. No one knew about his map of Hogwarts, nor did anyone know he snuck out of the Hufflepuff dormitories on an almost nightly basis. 

They had shown him their map once it was completed, they called it the Marauder's Map. It was ingenious, it showed Hogwart's in it's entirety and small dots represented people. Near each dot was the name of whoever the dot represented. Elanus had made his own map soon afterwards. It wasn't as detailed, nor did it give names of people, but it wasn't restricted to being used just in Hogwarts either. His map was also color coded and could tell if someone was using magic or if they were under the influence of a potion or magic device. James had confessed that the Marauder's Map wasn't actually a school project, but Elanus had figured that out rather quickly.

"Wake up," Elanus heard Sirius' voice say, and then felt a jab in his ribs. "We've arrived."

Elanus sighed heavily and exited the train. He lagged behind the majority of the students who were older then first year as they made their way to the school. It was going to be a boring year, he could tell.


	3. Lupis, Rattus, Canis, and Cervidae

**Chapter 3: Lupis, Rattus, Canis, and Cervidae**

**_Author's Note: _**_Looks like once again I forgot a disclaimer. Oh well, everything having to do with Harry Potter is JK Rowling's work and all the copyright stuff that goes along with it. Elanus Green, Gene Evans, Annie Evans and all other original characters not made up by JK Rowling are mine. _

The students at Hogwarts had just began to get settled into their routine and Elanus was no exception. He knew that if he waited a week or two before he started sneaking out at night he'd be less likely to get caught. There was a little excitement in his step, because he decided to sneak out tonight. He had heard several girls talking about how they were going to meet after midnight and he was more then a little curious as to what they were up to. Classes were finished for the day, or at least for him anyway and he walked down the hall to his dormitory. He was stopped by the captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, John Ellington. Ellington was a bit shorter then Elanus with well groomed blonde hair, and an overly friendly demeanor.

"Hey Elanus!" John said, "Just the guy I've been looking for."

Elanus stopped and shook John's hand, "Really? Why?"

"We've got an opening on our team," John said. "I need a new beater, and you've got the build for it. Interested?"

"I'm not much of a flyer, really," Elanus replied. 

"Oh, right the Agatha Incident, poor girl," John replied. "Know anyone that might be interested? We've got our first game in two weeks against Gryffindor and I really need that position filled."

"I really don't," Elanus said. "I do have a suggestion on how to improve your brooms though. You guys would have a definite edge on the other teams if your brooms were more maneuverable."

"Yeah, and faster too, we're still using school brooms. Everyone else has either bought their own or are borrowing them from their older siblings.

"Let me show you something here," Elanus said setting his books down and removing a scrap of paper from his pocket, along with a pen. He started drawing on the paper and outlined a few charms.

"Whoa, that looks complicated," John said, "I think we could do that, but we're not allowed to tamper with school brooms."

"I read somewhere that Quidditch players used to tie their house scarves to the brooms for good luck," Elanus said.

"Yeah, too much drag on the broom though," John commented.

"What if you enchanted some scarves to improve the brooms, you wouldn't be tampering with the brooms, and it'd put you on the same level as the other houses as far as maneuverability goes," Elanus said.

"Can you do that?" asked John.

"I sure can," Elanus said confidently.

"I think I can get some scarves," John said. "Can they be the player's scarves?"

"Yeah, it won't hurt people," Elanus said. 

"Right, how fast can you do this?" asked John.

"Few days at most, I wouldn't practice with them when people are watching though," Elanus replied.

"Thanks man, if you can pull this off I'll owe you a big one," John said, pointing his fingers at Elanus then walking off.

Elanus shook his head and went on his way. Once he arrived at the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room he stopped and looked up at the painting. The picture portrayed a farm scene, with an old farmer plowing his field.

"Toil," Elanus said. The password had been the same for the last five years, and likely for decades before that. It was a testament to how uninteresting people thought Hufflepuff to be. The painting moved out of the way and Elanus entered the common room. He'd been to the other houses and their common rooms, and none were so nicely decorated or as well taken care of as Hufflepuff's. After quickly putting his books away, he took a large black cloak out from under his bed. 

"Two years and I still haven't been able to get it to work right," Elanus said to himself. "Why won't the invisibility charm take, it's worked on everything else I've tried."

He waved his wand at it a few times, and sprinkled some sort of dust on it. The cloak flickered invisible a moment, and then returned to normal. Setting his wand down, Elanus picked up the cloak off his bed and put it on. As he put it on he faced a mirror hanging on the far side of the room. He wasn't completely invisible, as he could still see a bit of refraction as the cloak moved but it was better then all his previous attempts. 

"Tonight's as good a night as any to try it out," he said, stuffing it under his bed. 

Elanus looked down at his watch and hurried off to the Great Hall for the evening meal. He liked knowing things in advance as much as possible, so a few years prior he'd negotiated a deal with the house elves. In return for keeping a certain abusive student out of the kitchen, they'd give him the week's menu until he graduated. He found little problem keeping the bully out of the kitchen once he found a little dirt on the boy, so every Sunday a house elf delivers a menu with his laundry. Today it was roast beef, tomorrow it would grilled chicken.

The menu was only one of several deals he'd made with the various staff and faculty of the school. Sure he had to go a little bit out of his way, but he'd gained a few conveniences along the way, not to mention friends. One of these conveniences came in handy quite often. The caretaker, Mr. Filch, was privy to an enormous amount of news students weren't allowed to hear and he confiscated quite a few magical "toys" from students every so often. Early on he'd realized that being on Filch's good side would make his life at Hogwarts a whole lot more bearable. In return for helping Filch catch people with the items on his forbidden list, he was allowed not only to go through these items, but Filch would often tell him bits of information students weren't supposed to hear.

When Elanus walked into the hall, John waved to him, "Hey Green! Come sit over here!"

Elanus sat down next to John and was introduced to the Quidditch team, most of whom he'd never really talked to. John motioned for the team to lean in a little. "Elanus here has an idea that might give us an edge over the Gryffindors. Remember the scarf idea, he thinks he can make it happen," John said quietly, "Tell 'em what you need, we can get it."

"Your house scarves and a few things from your potions class," Elanus said pulling a pen out of his robes and writing a few things on a scrap of paper.

"Ok guys, get him the stuff he needs when he needs it," John said.

"Isn't this cheating?" asked one of the girls on the team.

"No, not according to the rules," Elanus said, "You won't even have to steal the stuff from your potions class; you'll be using all of this stuff in the next three days."

"How do you know?"

"I have my ways," Elanus said.

"Don't question the genius guys," John said, "If he can help us win this game without breaking any rules we're set. Now we're starting to get suspicious looks." 

The Hufflepuff Quidditch team sat back up and resumed eating. The roast beef was good, exceptional really and the trimmings were phenomenal. Satiated and a bit sleepy Elanus went to the common room. After a few minutes chatting with his housemates, he bathed and laid down for a nap before he went off for the night. 

He slept until eleven o'clock. Listening carefully to make sure all his room mates were asleep he quietly retrieved his map, wand and cloak from under his bed. He also pulled out a more suitable set of clothing then his pajamas and slipped into them as well. Walking out the door quietly as he donned his cloak he crept out of the Hufflepuff dormitory, reflexively keeping near the walls and furniture. He swiftly made his way to his preferred observation spot. It was a stone shelf in one of the outer hallways where the ceilings were much higher. He made sure he never went there during the day time so he wouldn't be tempted to look up at it. Carefully climbing the stones that so conveniently stuck out of the wall in the right places he pulled himself up onto his ledge. 

"Full moon," he said quietly as he pulled his map out. "Who do we have sneaking out tonight?"

His map showed an outline of Hogwarts, although nothing was labeled. There were several colored dots on the map. Blue dots represented boys, and pink represented girls. He knew where the most dots were grouped was the house dormitories and he could plainly see where the girls slept, and where the boys slept. There were also several rooms with only one dot on them. These were professors rooms, and other faculty, a few rooms had a pink and blue dot in them where two of the staff were married. Several pink dots began to slowly leave their respective houses.

"There are the girls now," he thought. "I'll give them a few minutes to go wherever they're going before I begin spying."

The pink dots converged on what looked to be an abandoned class room near where he was perched. Three blue dots left their dormitories and met in one of the stairwells. Elanus was intrigued, but he could guess which three dots these were. He looked over his map a few times trying to decide which dots he wanted to pursue. Finally he decided to see what the girls were doing before following the three boys. 

He slowly made his way to the classroom in question, and looked in a keyhole. Five girls were sitting inside the classroom, in their pajamas. They were obviously from different houses; probably all related or knew each other outside of school. After a few moments of girl talk one of the girls reached into a small pack sitting near her.

"You are so wicked," one of the girls squealed. Elanus heard glass clink, "Liquor?" he mumbled. He watched as the girl pulled a bottle from the pack and then another and started passing them around.

"Pepsi," he chuckled silently. He'd have to drop by their next meeting. Elanus turned his head as the sound of footsteps echoed quietly down the hall. He glanced at his map, "Filch" he mumbled. Quickly he rapped on the door a few times and ran down the hall quietly. The girls stopped talking and then poked her head out the door and heard the footsteps. They quickly gathered up their things and slipped out of the room and back to their dorms. 

"I shouldn't have done that," Elanus thought as he moved towards the three blue dots on his map which had began to move, "But then again, I'm out against the rules too."

Their map was a problem, as they'd see him on the map following them. Fortunately they had it rolled up and weren't paying much attention to it.

He found the three boys moving down a particularly long stretch of hallway. There they were Potter, Pettigrew and Black just as he had suspected. They wrapped a cloak around themselves and disappeared.

"Clever," Elanus mumbled.

The three boys were moving towards the main entrance of the school according to his map. Elanus followed them outside and around a bit until they reached a tree that had been planted six years prior, called a Whomping Willow. The tree thrashed at the boys violently. What Elanus saw next was astonishing. Peter seemed to shrink, and he became a rat, and darted under the thrashing branches up to a knot in the tree. As the rat touched it, the thrashing stopped. The remaining boys began their own transformation, one into a dog, and the other into a large deer like creature. The dots on Elanus map had turned brown to indicate animals. They all disappeared into the roots of the tree, and the willow began thrashing again.

Elanus darted quickly between the limbs and barely made it to the knot unscathed. After a few moments searching he found the opening the other boys had disappeared down into.

Unlike the Marauder's Map, his map worked just fine outside the Hogwarts Campus. He followed the passage for what seemed like hours. Finally he reached the end of the passage, and saw a hole over his head. He listened carefully, and looked at his map. Growling sounds came from above and he saw three brown dots on his map, and one that was half brown and half blue. Elanus puzzled over his map for a few moments, then watched the dots leave. He crawled out of the hole and found himself inside a small house. 

He maneuvered outside, and slowly followed the dots as they moved off, trying to get a good look at them. They entered the forest, and stopped in a clearing. Elanus climbed a tree and peered down on them. 

In the middle of the clearing stood a large stag, a dog and a rat facing each other. Near them stood an enormous were-wolf. Elanus' eyes widened as they ran off. 

Elanus quickly made his way back to the school and into his room. Slipping into his bead he closed his eyes but could not fall asleep. He fought with himself in his head, wondering if he should tell what he saw or keep it to himself. One dilemma he always faced by breaking rules was how often he caught other breaking the same one. There was no way he could tell anyone what he saw, because he himself would be in trouble for being out after curfew. This was one reason he tried to follow the rules as close to the letter as he could manage. Still, there were what appeared to be three illegal Animages in the school, and they seemed to be friends with a werewolf.


	4. Quidditch Games and Pepsi Bottles

**Chapter 4: Quidditch Games and Pepsi Bottles**

**Author's Note: **_Ok, not totally sure about trademarks here, but Pepsi and the Pepsi logo are trademarks of Pepsi Co. or it's parent companies. Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, hope you guys enjoy!_

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Elanus sat staring at the blackboard, watching the chalk write words on it as Professor Binns droned on about the day's history lesson. Normally he found the old ghost's lectures interesting, if dry. Today his mind was elsewhere, he'd completed and tested the Quidditch Team's scarves and the big game was today.

Finally, Professor Binns stopped his monotonous lecturing and dismissed the class. After waking up a few of his fellow classmates, Elanus walked out the door. He carefully made his way to the Hufflepuff dormitories to change. 

"Hey Elanus!" John said as Elanus walked in the door to the boy's living quarters.

"Hey, John," Elanus said, shaking John's hand. "Ready for the game?"

"You know it," John said excitedly, "Why don't you meet us in the lockers before the game?"

"Sure," Elanus said, walking to his room. John followed closely and Elanus changed into another set of clothing.

"What's that?" John said, pointing to a small disk shaped object laying at the end of Elanus' bed. 

"This?" Elanus asked, picking the disk up, "It's a project I've been working on."

"Does it do anything?" asked John.

Elanus shrugged, "It's nothing special really. It just has a silencing charm on it."

"Nice," John said, "We better get going, I still have to change into my uniform."

Elanus followed John down the school corridors to the locker rooms where the Hufflepuff team had already gathered. 

"Hey look who I brought, the guy who's insured our victory today!" John announced as they walked in. The team cheered for Elanus and alternated between slapping him on the back, shaking his hand and hugging him. 

"I'm gonna get changed guys. Elanus, why don't you inspect your handiwork and give a little speech?" John said, then grabbed a set of robes from a niche in the wall and stepped into a small curtained alcove. 

Elanus shrugged and asked one of the girls if he could borrow her broom and scarf. The girl handed him her broom and scarf. He quickly tied the scarf to the broomstick, near the head. 

"Just get out there and win," Elanus said, throwing the broom back to it's owner. 

John emerged from the changing booth and led the team out to the stadium. Soon they mounted their brooms and flew out onto the field, meeting the Gryffindor team in the middle.

"Nice scarf," the Gryffindor Seeker told John, "You'll need all the luck you can get."

"Get a good look at my face, Potter," John retorted.

"Why?" asked Potter.

"Because for the rest of the game, all you'll be seeing is my back," John said. 

The quaffle was thrown and the teams started flying around in a flurry of action. The Hufflepuff team was having a hard time keeping up with the Gryffindors, who had already scored two goals in the first minute or so of play.

"You shouldn't have used the scarves John, those tired brooms are already slow enough," Potter taunted.

John chuckled at James Potter's mocking. Elanus had cleverly designed the scarves to slowly but surely increase the speed of the brooms over the course of a few minutes so no one would suspect any tampering. Soon, just as planned the Hufflepuff team had caught up to the Gryffindors and were easily outpacing them. Hufflepuff scored several goals before John spotted the Snitch flying around. 

John turned his head suddenly and took off slowly in a direction opposite to the Snitch. James quickly followed him and scanned around for any sign of streaking gold and soon realized John was no where to be seen. He turned his head and saw John on the far side of the Quidditch field chasing the elusive golden ball. James muttered a curse then sped off towards the Snitch. 

"Very clever," James said.

"It was, wasn't it?" asked John, not turning his sight from the Snitch. The two pursued the Snitch across the field for a while as their teammates kept scoring.

"You know what?" John asked.

"What?" James asked.

"You lose!" John said, pushing his broom to it's fastest and easily grabbing the Snitch out of the air.

The gathered crowd roared with excitement as John flew around the court, Snitch in hand. After a few moments the players flew into formation, and then landed, walking off the court. Back in the Gryffindor locker rooms a frustrated Quidditch team growled at each other. 

"They must have cheated," James Potter commented, throwing his shoes at a wall.

"Admit it, we lost fair and square," another young man said as he was changing back into his school robes.

"There's no way!" James screamed.

"There's no rule that says they can't fly faster then us, and besides I think we've been under estimating their Captain. John is an incredible player," the young man replied. "His only problem thus far is the shoddy equipment they've been provided."

"They had to have tampered with it," James said, calming down slightly. "That's it! They tampered with school property. There's no way those brooms could move that fast otherwise."

"Oh come off it, the brooms are inspected. Besides who here do you think is talented enough, not to mention skilled enough to modify flying brooms like that. They ain't easy to tinker with ya know."

James shrugged and muttered as he finished pulling on his robes. The rest of the day was slow for Gryffindor house, as few things were as humiliating as losing to the Hufflepuff team. While the Hufflepuff team wasn't bad, they did have the shoddiest equipment and they never made it to the final game. Their new found skill worried the Gryffindor team, as they'd been on top for well over a decade.

The Hufflepuff house however, was excited and the day passed entirely too quickly. Elanus couldn't be happier when it was over though, no matter how much attention he received from the team for helping them out. After everyone had gone to bed he quickly donned the cloak he had made and grabbed a small disk like object from under his bed. He knew those girls would be sneaking out again tonight and he had a trade to make. A few quick moments passed and he was on his perch overlooking a hall. His map showed several pink dots slowly making their way to an older part of the school.

"They don't use the same room twice, how clever of them," Elanus muttered to himself. 

Once the dots converged, he quietly ran to the room they were in. He crouched by the door, listening for a few moments before gathering his nerve and walking in the door. His invisibility cloak wasn't perfect, so the girls saw a noticeable distortion moving into the room. The girls gasped and moved away from the distortion. One of them, a red head, was a bit braver and drew her wand.

"I knew we shouldn't have snuck out tonight," one of the girls said, as she huddled against the wall.

"James Potter if that's you I swear I'll blast you into next week," the redhead said, pointing her wand at the distortion.

Elanus shook his head and removed his cloak, and folded it in his arms. "I'm not James Potter," Elanus responded. 

"Who are you?" asked the red head.

"He's Elanus Green, a Hufflepuff, I have a potions class with him," a pretty blonde girl in the corner said. "He'll turn us in, he's a stickler for the rules."

"Now why would I do that?" asked Elanus, "I'm out past curfew too you know. I came to make a trade."

"What sort of trade?" asked the red head.

"Well, first of all, I'd like to know your name," Elanus replied.

"Lily, Lily Evans," the girl said, putting her wand back in one of the pockets of her pajamas. 

"Well, Lily, it's a pleasure to meet you," Elanus said, bowing, "I hear you girls have Pepsi?"

"You want a bottle of Pepsi?" asked Lily, "It's hard to get you know, my parents have to do all sorts of stuff to get it to my friends and I. What could a Hufflepuff possibly have that would be worth the trouble of having my parents send an extra bottle?"

"Have you girls ever got caught?" asked Elanus.

"A few times," Lily said, putting one hand on her hip.

"I have something that will keep all sounds made in a room, inside the room," Elanus said, "Interested?"

"No deal, we learned a charm that would do that in our third year," one of the other girls said.

"Yeah, but it's detectable, and not entirely perfect, what I have is," Elanus said.

"If you have something that can't be detected, it might be worth a bottle of Pepsi," Lily said thoughtfully, and slowly, "If you're talented enough to make something like that, perhaps you could," She paused for a moment and looked out the window, "Do you know about Potter and his minions?"

"Ah, yes the Marauders," Elanus replied.

"They have a map," Lily started.

"Yes I know," Elanus said.

"Do you know what it does?" asked Lily.

"As a matter of fact I do," Elanus replied, "I suppose those four bother you?"

"Yes, do you know of anything to make us undetectable to it?"

"Yeah, but it's a secret I don't want to part with so much," Elanus said, a small smile forming on his face.

"Listen, if you can deliver, we'll get you a few bottles of Pepsi a month," Lily said. "You can have a whole case if you want."

"I don't know," Elanus replied, "It took me months to figure it out."

"What do you want?" Lily asked.

"Six bottles of Pepsi a month, your silence about me sneaking out, passwords from all four houses, and I want to know where and when you plan to hold your little meetings," Elanus replied.

"The first part we can handle," Lily replied, "As for where and when we hold our meetings, that's our business."

"Alright, here's the device," Elanus said, tossing Lily a small disk shaped object. 

"The spell?" Lily asked.

"Got a piece of paper?" asked Elanus. In response one of the girls produced a sheet of flowered stationary from a small diary she had with her and gave it to Elanus, along with a quill. After a few moments scribbling something on the sheet, Elanus handed it to Lily.

"It's pretty simple, really," Elanus said, "It can be cast on other people to."

"Thanks," Lily said, retrieving a bottle of Pepsi from a small bundle on the floor.

"You're welcome, a pleasure doing business with you, and there's more where that came from," Elanus said, stowing the bottle and wrapping his cloak around himself, and slipping through the open door.

"Who was that?" one of the girls asked quietly.

"He's cute," another said.

"Mr. Green is also talented," Lily said, turning the disk over in her hands.

"Where'd he get an invisibility cloak?" the blonde asked. "Aren't there only a few of those?"

"Four," Lily replied, "Two of them belong to the Potter family, one belongs to the ministry and the other belongs to you know who or one of his minions."

"Could he be a Death Eater?" asked the blonde with a shudder.

"I don't know," Lily said thoughtfully, placing the disk in her pocket and eying the door, "We should go to bed."

With that the girls quietly packed their things up and ever so carefully moved down the hallways back to their dormitories. Elanus himself found a quiet corner and sat down. He pulled a small red pocket knife from his robes and carefully opened what looked like a bottle opener. The very base of the device bore the word "Wenger". After applying it to the Pepsi bottle and stuffing the bottle cap in his pocket along with his knife he stared out the window to the Hogwart's courtyard. Fireflies danced along the grass and the occasional breeze stirred the trees. He sipped his Pepsi and smiled as two centaurs came into view at the very edge of the forest and just as quickly disappeared within.


	5. A Bond is Formed

  
**Chapter 5: A Bond is Formed**

**Author's Note: **_Sorry about the lack of updates lately. Just survived two computer crashes, sadly the second crash happened about the time I had finished this chapter, and right before my backup so it's a little late. I apologize in advance if this chapter doesn't hold up well, I'm not good at rewrites._

John walked down the hall towards the library with a quick deliberate pace, clenching a rolled up sheet of paper in his hand. Elanus had disappeared into the library for the last several weeks. Everyone in Hufflepuff knew that Elanus would occasionally disappear for several days at a time, only coming out of the library for his classes. This time though, Elanus had missed two classes, something everyone knew he never did. Those that knew him knew of his near legendary distaste for the school. Despite his dislike for Hogwarts, his grades were likely some of the highest in school, though no one could ever remember them being posted.  The only other thing that really stuck out about Elanus was his staunch adherence to the rules. He was a bit confusing; after all it was Elanus that helped with the brooms that allowed John and the team to make a victory over Gryffindor, and all but assuring them a place in the final games of the year. For that, John owed Elanus, as did the whole Hufflepuff house. John knew just the way to repay the favor. He found Elanus sitting in a back corner at a table with several neat stacks of books on it. John sat down quietly.

"Hey, Elanus," John whispered, "What are you reading?"

"Oh," Elanus said, closing an old leather bound book, "Just something for an end of term project for next year. It's on lycanthropy."

"Werewolves huh?" asked John, "That's going to be some graduation project."

"I hope so," Elanus said, "What can I do for you?"

"Well, my friend," John said, "It's not so much something you can do for me, but something I can do for you."

"Oh?"

"Listen, tomorrow we're going to Hogsmeade right?" John whispered, "There's a student gathering, a party if you will, going on at one of the old warehouses. This is an invitation," he said, handing the paper to Elanus.

"I don't know," Elanus said, "Parties aren't really my thing."

"Oh I think you can handle it," John said, "I insist, we owe you a lot, think of this as a down payment. Only the most popular students, meaning fifth year and older, get these invitations, and I think you should come."

"Really? Will there be girls there?" asked Elanus.

"You know it," John said, "Just make an appearance, man, alright? It's casual, but dressy."

With that John stood up and waved to Elanus. Elanus unrolled the paper and read it thoughtfully. He closed his books and strolled out of the library and back to his dorm room. The evening turned to night, and the night became morning. Friday classes went slow, as normal. Finally, that evening Elanus went through his clothing and found a muggle suit he had brought over. It was one of the few pieces of muggle clothing he brought to Hogwarts as he never wore anything but the school uniform while at school. Several minutes and much straightening later, he walked out of the Hufflepuff common room and down the halls with a cloak draped over his arm. 

"Lookin' sharp," one of the male students commented as he walked by, several girls nodded in agreement. Elanus nodded his head to them and smiled as he walked past. Most of the students had already left for Hogsmeade, which was alright with Elanus as he didn't want to walk with a crowd. As he turned a corner he quickly draped the cloak over himself and disappeared. After quickly slipping behind a hidden panel and a few short paces, he found himself outside Hogwarts and a short distance away from the Whomping Willow. He deftly ran up to the tree, touched a knot on its trunk and slipped into a passage beneath its roots. Several minutes of walking later he took the cloak off and folded it back over his arms and made his way through the streets of Hogsmeade. Unrolling the invitation and looking around he spotted the warehouse where the party was being held. 

An oddity of the current headmaster was that he enjoyed parties and fun much more then any of the professors at Hogwarts. This particular party was held annually, and though none of the students knew, it was organized and chaperoned by professors. The professors wore disguises or transfigured themselves usually. One professor, an animagus by the name of Minerva McGonagall simply turned herself into a cat, and watched from the rafters. Almost no one knew of McGonagall's gift, but Elanus did. He handed his invitation to the seventh year at the door and walked in and looked up at the rafters. There was a grey and black cat with oddly shaped rings around her eyes looking at him. He winked and nodded then looked around the room. 

A great many of the students in the room were wearing colored robes instead of the usual Hogwarts' black. A few students were wearing black dress robes, and a surprising number were in muggle clothing. After spotting John's hand waving at him and hanging his cloak, he made his way to a small ring of people near the far wall. John shook Elanus' hand enthusiastically.

"You clean up nice," John said looking Elanus over, "Guys, I'd like you to meet Elanus Green, he's a fellow Hufflepuff and a great motivational speaker."

"Are you the one responsible for Hufflepuff's incredible victories on the Quidditch field?" one of the students asked, "Everyone is still talking about that Gryffindor game."

"Careful how you answer, the Slytherns might kidnap you, I hear they're going to tie scarves to their brooms for the next game," another student said, with a chuckle. 

"It's all the team," Elanus replied, "They're fantastic."

A redheaded girl in a black dress walked up to the crowd, standing between John and the person to his left. 

"Oh, Elanus, there's someone I'd like you to meet," John said, putting his arm around the girl's shoulder, "Lily Evans, meet Elanus Green."

"A pleasure," Lily said with a curtsy.

Elanus took her hand and bent down to kiss it, winking to her quickly as he stood, "Believe me the pleasure is all mine."

Lily blushed slightly and smiled. A band started to play from a small stage. Several people paired off and started to dance.

"I'd ask you to dance," Elanus said, "Sadly, that was one of the few skills my Baptist uncle didn't teach me."

"It's a shame," Lily said, "You look like you'd make a wonderful dancer. Perhaps a walk then?"

Elanus extended his arm, and Lily wrapped hers around it. They walked to the door, turning a few heads as they did. 

"You can't dance either," Elanus said as he grabbed his cloak and they exited the building.

"Not a bit," Lily replied.

"Where shall we walk to?" Elanus asked.

"Somewhere in sight, but out of hearing," Lily replied.

The two strolled towards the lake, making small talk as they did. They reached the lake shore and began walking along it, carefully staying out of the mud that surrounded it. Lily smiled up at Elanus. "So who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Elanus Green, Hufflepuff," Elanus replied.

"No, I mean really," Lily said.

"What do you mean?" Elanus asked slowly.

"You must be very talented or a special student," Lily said, "Or both."

"Why would you say that?" asked Elanus.

"First of all, you have the highest grades in school," Lily replied, "Severus Snape and I are at the top of the printed list, but your grades are much higher then ours. Your name isn't even listed."

"So I asked them not to print them," Elanus replied, "I'm sure there are several students who have done the same thing. How'd you find out?"

"I have my ways. You're right on that, but I also found out you'll be done with all your classes the first part of next year, and likely graduate early."

"So?" 

"No one except Tom Riddle has ever managed to even come remotely close to that," Lily replied, "Ever, not even Dumbledore when he was a student here."

"I don't like to draw attention to myself," Elanus said with a shrug.

"Well you should, you've done three amazing things all in the span of a few months," Lily said.

"What's that?" 

"That disk you made us, for starters. I've never seen or heard of anything like it. That invisibility cloak on your arm, there are only a few you know. No one has been able to figure out how to make them for centuries," Lily said.

"It's not perfect," Elanus replied, "I got lucky."

"It's closer then anyone else has been able to achieve," Lily replied, "Believe me I did a report on them my fourth year. I don't think luck has anything to do with it, Elanus. If those two things weren't impressive enough you managed to tamper with the Hufflepuff brooms somehow. You also created a totally new spell that confounds a certain map that's quite possibly the closest thing to a major magic artifact that's been created in years. All without knowing that much about either."

"How did you know about the brooms?" asked Elanus.

"Come on, scarves around the broomstick? You suddenly being John's best friend?" Lily asked.

"Is it that obvious?" 

"Not to most people," Lily replied, "Where did you learn all these things?"

"Well, if you must know," Elanus said, "My uncle is a machinist, he graduated from university with majors in engineering and physics. I work at his shop in America during the summer. He knows about magic, but more importantly he knows a lot about how things work."

"Is he a muggle?" asked Lily.

"Yes," Elanus replied, "Most of the things wizards haven't been able to do for a long time is simple physics to muggles. They may not know how to do it either, but they have a pretty good idea what would need to be done."

"Like the invisibility cloak?" asked Lily, "You still have to be pretty powerful to make one, even if muggle scientists did have a theory."

"You're wrong," Elanus replied, "The ancient wizards bullied magic into doing what they wanted. They held their hands a certain way and burned pixie wings because it worked, not ever bothering to figure out why. Once I learned a little about how light works and how it can be bent and refracted all I had to do was nudge things along a little until I got the desired effect. I worked with nature, rather then forcing to do what I wished. Muggles do it all the time without magic, I didn't see why it couldn't be done with magic."

"So how do you bend light to make yourself invisible?" asked Lily.

"Well, think about it like this," Elanus said, "Imagine I'm standing in a room with my back to a wall. There's a mirror in front of me facing, and one behind me facing the wall. Several other mirrors are arranged in the room so that the mirror in front of me reflects the wall behind me. If the mirrors were really good, and you didn't know they were there, you might never even notice the trick until you ran into it, or saw yourself in the mirror. You could even shine a light into the mirror, and the light spot would appear on the wall."

"Because it's reflected around you," Lily said, "But what if I stepped beside you, or looked on top? Or directly in front of the mirror?"

"Well, imagine hundreds of thousands of perfect invisible mirrors arranged around me and in the room at every possible angle," Elanus replied, "You couldn't see me, you'd see the effect of the mirror, or a distortion. For all practical purposes I'd be invisible though."

"You couldn't see out," Lily commented.

"What if some of the mirrors were two way mirrors? Reflective on one side, and transparent on the other?" 

"It's that simple?" asked Lily.

"It's simple yes, but it's not perfect, nor is that a perfect description of how it works. It's the best I can give without going into muggle technology," Elanus replied, "Think of it as really good camouflage."

"I see," Lily said, "and the silencing device."

"That's just a silencing charm in reverse," chuckled Elanus.

"Well I think we're going to get along very well," Lily said.

Elanus smiled at Lily, "Oh my."

"What?" asked Lily.

"It's late, we better get back to school," Elanus said.

"Like either of us are concerned about curfew," Lily said, jokingly.

"True, but the locks on the gates are a bit harder to bypass then the ones inside," he said, leading them back towards the school.

"Potter and his minions do it all the time," Lily said, "Any idea how?"

"Secret passages," Elanus replied.

Several minutes later the two joined the small crowd that filed back into Hogwarts. They parted ways, but not after Lily had whispered the location of their next meeting in his ear. Lily made her way towards the Gryffindor common room, and spoke the password to the Fat Lady in the picture. The picture swung aside, graciously letting her through. Lily made her way up to the girl's wing, not bothering to talk to anyone along the way. As she made her way up the stairs she removed the pins and clips holding her hair up. She found her room, and one of her room mates waiting for her. Mindy Carlisle, her long time study partner, was sitting on her bed, brushing her long auburn hair. 

"So, how'd it go?" Mindy asked, "That guy you left with was very handsome. What's his name?"

Lily smiled as she pulled her dress off and changed into her pajamas. "His name is Elanus Green, a Hufflepuff," she replied.

"So, is there a boyfriend in the near future?" Mindy asked teasingly.

Lily blushed, "I could only be so lucky. No, he's too familiar somehow, like a brother I guess. I don't see any attachments of the romantic kind between us", she said as she filled a small basin up and began washing her face.

"That's so sad," Mindy commented, "So if you're not going to take him, can I have him?"

Lily laughed, "Let's not go there just yet. I said I don't see any **romantic** attachments between the two of us."

"Hmmph," Mindy pouted, "You never introduce me to your friends."

"Because I know how you are," Lily said with a laugh.

Mindy threw her brush at Lily, who instinctively stepped aside. The brush slammed into the wall, but didn't hit the floor. It just floated towards Lily, who grabbed it from midair without taking her eyes off the mirror.

"How do you do that?" asked Mindy.

"It's just a simple levitation charm," Lily replied.

"No I mean without a wand?"

"If you practice a spell enough you can do it without a wand, I've been telling you that for years," Lily said, running the brush through her hair, "Practice it enough without a wand, you don't even need your hands."

"That's so much work," Mindy commented.

"Nothing worth having ever comes easy," Lily replied, tossing the brush back to Mindy, "Remember that."

The two girls chatted idly for a few minutes before their other room mates came in. Soon the lamps were snuffed and they all fell quietly to sleep. Everyone slept except Lily, who snuck out of the tower to a stairwell not far from the entrance. She pulled a small journal, a candle, and a pen from a small compartment underneath one of the stairs and began to write. A wolf howled in the distance, and the full moon illuminated the night.


	6. Plans Afoot

**Chapter 6: Plans Afoot!**

**_  
Author's Note: _**_Lily looks to be a bit of a flirt in this one. Just bare with me. I waited to post this chapter on purpose. I was hoping Book 5 would be a little more descriptive of Sirius, Peter, James, Remus, Lily, and Snape. Needless to say my wishes were granted._

**_Author's Second Note: _**_To the person who reviewed this story last. I try and make it a point to e-mail my reviewers to thank them. Since it appeared to be anonymous, and maybe a bit glitchy I'll thank you here.  Thanks, and could you please e-mail me?_

It was cold, very cold. Christmas was drawing near and November had already passed. One of the disadvantages of living in a castle was the difficulty in keeping the temperature at a tolerable level inside. Great stone fireplaces and magical heating did their best, but quite a few places in the castle just simply could not escape the cold. Several students shivered as they studied. They tried to get as close as possible to the lamps and candles on the tables in one of the many study hall. Elanus busied himself helping a few first years with their studies. Most of them needed practice with their wand waving techniques and annunciation of the words needed for the spells.

"It's not a club, William," Elanus said, removing his hand from the arm of one of the more enthusiastic first years, "Just swish and flick, like Professor Flitwick showed you," He said, demonstrating the movements for the boy.

"I'll never get this," William said, "It's so hard."

"It's not very hard," Elanus, "Alright, here's what we'll do. I'll cast the spell too, and you stand beside me and mirror what I do."

"Ok," William said, "I'll try."

Elanus stood up and removed his wand from his robe, "You do the candle, I'll levitate the lamp."

"It might catch something on fire if it doesn't work," William said, eyeing the candle.

"Well, let's just hope it works," Elanus said with a grin, "Ready?"

"I guess."

Elanus made a slow, exaggerated swish with his wand. William did the same, though nervously and with a bit less grace. "_Wingardium__,_" he said slowly as his swish came to an end, William did the same. Elanus gracefully flicked his wand towards the lamp and said, "_Leviosa__!_"

The lamp began to lift off the table where it was sitting, and hovered a few feet in the air. William repeated after Elanus and pointed his wand at the candle. The candle wobbled slightly, and one student picked up a small glass of water. Slowly but surely the candle lifted off the table, wobbling in the air. Small droplets of wax splattered on the table as the candle hovered unsteadily over it. 

"Alright, now lets set them down slowly," Elanus said as he lowered the lamp. William did the same with his candle but it fell over on the table. One of the other students was quick enough to blow out the tiny flame before it caught anything on fire.

"Very good, William," Elanus said, "Work on your control. We'll use water next time."

"Thank you," William said. 

Elanus gathered his wand and a small book he left laying on the table and started to walk out of the hall, running right into Lily. "Oh, sorry," Elanus said, looking down at Lily who didn't seem to want to move.

"There are worse things that could happen to a girl," she said, winking up at Elanus, "Mail Call," she said, backing up and handing Elanus an envelope with a good number of American stamps on it.

"I thought these normally came by owl," Elanus replied.

"Well, it looks like it's from America somewhere, I got one too," Lily replied, "From the same place. A postman who's privy to us brought it by."

"Oh really," Elanus said in a puzzled tone, "Where from?"

"A city called Amarillo. It's in Texas somewhere," Lily replied.

"Uncle Gene," Elanus said, carefully opening the envelope.

Lily looked surprised and grabbed Elanus by the arm and quickly walked him to a corner of the school rarely traveled.

"You have an uncle Gene from America?" asked Lily.

"Yes," Elanus said looking a bit puzzled. He pulled the letter from the envelope and opened it up. "He's coming here in a few days! It looks like he sent the letter several weeks ago. Bloody slow postal service."

"Elanus," Lily said, "Focus, I got one from the same place."

"From Amarillo?" Elanus asked, "You must be his…"

"Half sister," Lily replied.

"That would make us cousins," he said a bit mournfully.

"Fate is cruel," Lily sighed.

"Yep, God definitely has a sense of humor," Elanus chuckled.

"You must be related on Annie's side then," Lily asked.

"Yeah, she's my dad's sister," Elanus replied.

"Well then we're barely related, so I don't have to stop flirting," Lily said jokingly.

"I doubt anyone could draw any kind of connection there," Elanus said.

"Well why don't we keep it that way?" she said, slapping his belly.

"Why?" asked Elanus.

"For one you drive my friends crazy," Lily said, "And two it could come in handy some day.  We need to swear never to tell anyone we're related, and if confronted pretend like we had no idea."

"I sense ulterior motives," Elanus replied, "But who am I to deny family?"

"Good," She said, "I swear never to tell anyone I'm related to you, and if asked about it I swear to pretend like I had no idea."

"Can I put my hand on your stomach to swear?" Elanus asked.

"I don't think so," Lily said, not moving her hand.

"Alright," Elanus replied and raised his hand, "I swear never to reveal our relationship, and if asked I will pretend I had no idea."

"That's good, now why don't you walk me to the stairwell, and I'll see you later tonight," she said.

"Alright," Elanus said, "Can I ask what your fascination with my abdomen is?"

"It's so flat and strong," Lily said teasingly, rubbing her hand a little.

"I see," Elanus said, reaching down and swatting her rear quickly.

"What was that for?" Lily asked indignantly, stepping away from Elanus.

"Nothing, I had a witty remark, but it's gone now," Elanus said, humming merrily as he walked down the hall, "If you want me to walk you back, you have to keep up."

Lily walked briskly beside him, then caught his arm as he headed toward Gryffindor Tower. "You're uncharacteristically cheerful tonight you know," Elanus said quietly as they walked.

"Christmas break, I get to see my family," Lily said.

"Me too," Elanus said as they arrived near the stairwell leading to the Gryffindor Tower. Elanus bent in close to Lily's ear, "I'll see you in a few hours."

Lily turned to Elanus' ear and said, "We'll be in the same place we always are."

Elanus kissed her on the cheek and walked off towards his own House. Once inside the common room he found John sitting on one of the chairs reading.

"Hey," John said, flipping his book closed.

"Evenin'," Elanus said, nodding his head.

"Have a seat," John said, gesturing towards a nearby chair.

Elanus sat down in the chair and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. John's face broke out into a large grin.

  
"So, you and Lily seem close," John commented.

"You have no idea," Elanus said, "Thanks for introducing her to me."

"No problem, I knew you two would hit it off," John said.

"So what are the prospects for the game after school starts again?" asked Elanus.

"Not good actually," John said, his voice lowering, "Some Slythern, Snivellus probably, has called for a broom inspection before the game." 

"So what, you're playing Ravenclaw," Elanus said.

"Doesn't matter," John said, "It's a matter of 'fairness', and they want all the brooms inspected."

"They won't find anything, we didn't tamper with the brooms," Elanus said.

"They're going to look at the scarves to," John sighed.

"Who's inspecting?" asked Elanus.

"Flitwick."

"I was afraid you'd say that," Elanus said, "Alright, get 'em together, I can fix it where he won't see it."

"You sure? He's awfully good, and I hate to lie to the head of my own house," John said.

"I'll just tangle the charms up a bit, and put a 'luck' charm on them," Elanus said with a shrug, "He'll get tickled and probably won't bother to inspect them much more."

"You can do that?" asked John.

"No, but Lily can," Elanus replied.

"Whoa, hold on she's a Gryffindor remember?"

"Yeah, but she already figured out what was going on anyway," Elanus said, "Besides she'll bend over backwards to help deflate James Potter's ego."

"Well, do what you need to, we're counting on you," John said, "I'm going to hit the sack, see you tomorrow."

Elanus leaned back in his chair for a few moments, and watched as everyone went to bed, and finally the candles went out. He made his way to his room. After making sure his roommates were asleep he donned his cloak and went out into the halls. He found his perch and watched his map. Several girls from all four houses converged on an abandoned classroom that was seeing a lot of night time activity lately.

"Time for my payment," Elanus said, leaping down from his ledge. He slowly made his way to the room, avoiding the grounds keeper who was making his nightly patrols. After stopping as another group of younger curfew breakers ran down a hall intersecting with his, he threw a coin down the hall after them. The groundskeeper spun around and ran after the group, right past Elanus. 

Elanus found the room and carefully slipped inside and removed his cloak. "Hi Elanus," the girls in the room chirped in unison.

"Good evening," Elanus said cheerfully, "Lot of activity out tonight."

"Here's your Pepsi," Lily said, handing Elanus several bottles.

"Thanks, mind if I join you all for a bit?" asked Elanus.

"Not at all," one of the girls said, "It'll be a bit before the old git goes to bed."

Elanus chuckled, "He'll have a fine time with the group I sent him after for sure."

"Really, more rule breakers?" asked Lily.

"Yeah, some boys," Elanus said, "I've never seen them out before. Probably a first time out."

"Boys!" one of the younger girls squealed, "Were they cute? Why did you have to get them into trouble?"

"I don't know if they were or not. I'm not a good one to ask that anyway," Elanus said, "And hey, we all have to make sacrifices."

"Better them then you," Lily said, taking a drink from her bottle.

"Why's that?" asked Elanus.

"She thinks you're hot," one of the other girls replied, giggling.

Lily laughed, "That and he's the reason Potter's minions haven't conducted a panty raid in months."

"Here's to Elanus, savior of our underwear," the girls said in unison, clinking their bottles together and giggling.

"Why don't you help us get Potter in trouble?" asked Lily.

"There's an idea," Elanus replied, rubbing his chin. "It could be risky though."

"Why is that?" asked one of the girls.

"The problem with getting someone in trouble like that is; you'll likely get in trouble yourself," Elanus replied, "Also, Potter and his legendary Dumbledore immunity might be tricky. They get in trouble fairly often anyway don't you think?"

"Yes, but that map of theirs keeps them from getting caught at night," one of the girls replied, "I don't think anyone but Severus Snape has ever managed to catch them. That was outside the grounds."

"How'd you know about that?" asked Elanus.

"I could see out my window," the girl said with a shrug.

"Well getting those four in trouble will take preparation," Elanus said, still rubbing his chin, "It might take a few allies."

"Allies?" Lily asked.

"I think I know a few dozen people who'd like to see Potter's ego deflated," Elanus replied with a grin.


	7. Author's Announcement

**Author's Note: **I'll be putting this story on hold a while. As you may or may not have figured out, I had no real plot in mind when I started it. I find it increasingly difficult to continue, and I need to outline it better. I will be starting a new story, as a sequel to "An American Muggle in Hogwart's Court". It'll be the continuation of their adventures, though not necessarily at Hogwarts Proper. 

Anyway, thanks for putting up with this, and thanks for reading!


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